Be an Adirondack Chair Warrior
Jun 17th, 2010 by Kathy
One of the things that many people love about summer is being able to relax on their porch swings, chaise lounges, and Adirondack chairs, and admire their gardens. If you’re in that number, you know the feeling of satisfaction that comes from having created such beauty through hours of hard labor. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, much of that effort has gone toward trying to keep pests from destroying their handiwork. In fact, they will continue their struggles in on-going, and, what often turn out to be losing, battles.
Indeed, it seems unfair that, even as you toil in the soil, there’s a host of bugs looting the leaves, pillaging the petals, stalking the stems, and ravaging the roots, of the plants that you are trying to nurture. It appears that the only course of action is to assault them with a barrage of sprays, powders, and anything else that’s available at garden centers. These days, however, because people are becoming increasingly loath to use pesticides that can harm the environment (thank goodness), they’re searching for other ways of rubbing out those little wretches.
Luckily, there are dozens of organic products to choose from; but applying these will also take up precious time that you could be spending cooking on your grill, eating at your picnic table, and napping in your hammock. Moreover, they will wipe out things that are valuable to your garden as well. Remember, not all of those creepy creatures have malicious intent; many of them are actually waiting in the, uh, wings, to support your endeavors.
Seen and unseen, they are always there, patrolling above and below the soil, and carrying out their vital missions. With pistils at the ready, these unsung heroes deliver much-needed supplies of pollen to waiting troops. At the same time, special units are deployed to devour enemy insects that would cause the annihilation of your vegetation; and all of this is accomplished without the use of chemical warfare.
Therefore, instead of attacking everything that crawls, start a recruiting drive to enlist these beneficial bugs as allies. Whether you’re trying to cultivate flowers, fruits, shrubs, trees, or vegetables, your first tactic is to strategically place the nectar-rich plants in your garden that will entice them over to your side.
These powerhouse pollinators and elite exterminators include bees, lacewings, ladybugs, flower flies, and mini-wasps. In many cases, their larvae alone have insatiable appetites. For example, a ladybug larva can consume up to 40 aphids per day, while a single lacewing will eat as many as 10,000 of them over the course of its lifetime.
The favorite flowers of these famished forces include Dill (Anethum graveolens), Korean angelica (Angelica gigas), Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis), Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), Cosmos (Cosmos bipi
nnatus), Poached egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii), Goldenrod (Solidago), and French marigold (Tagetes patula).
Add these lovely plants to your landscape, and you’ll soon have some selfless soldiers doing your drone work for you. Of course, you’ll have to return their thoughtfulness, by being kind to them as well.
So, the next time you’re bothered by buzzing as you snooze in your swingbed or steamer chair, look twice before you bring in the swat team!
Yours Outdoors,
Kathy
